Smoking rooms: tweet @peter_levy now!

It's the sixth anniversary of the smoking ban in England on Monday.

Working men's clubs in West Yorkshire are calling for the ban to be amended to allow separate well-ventilated smoking rooms.

Who could object to that?

Well, the guy I have just been interviewed with on BBC's Look North (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire), to be broadcast at 6.30pm. He was a doctor, I think, because he kept banging on about the health benefits of the ban.

He talked about a reduction in hospital admissions, fewer instances of asthma - all bollocks, of course, but difficult to refute in the short time available.

I couldn't see him because he was in the Look North studio with presenter Peter Levy and I was in a tiny remotely operated studio in Cambridge staring into a camera while listening via an ear-piece.

Unusually for an interview recorded 'as live', we did two takes. Needless to say I was happier with the first take but they wanted to do it again because they said my answer to the first question was "too long".

Anyway, Peter Levy has invited people to tweet him in response to the question 'Should pubs and working men's clubs have a smoking room again? Or should ban continue?'

Tweet @peter_levy now.

Update: Just seen the programme. My opponent wasn't a doctor, he was public health official Dr Tim Allison of NHS East Riding of Yorkshire.

"Neither the state nor the anti-smoker industry owns our children"

Further to my previous post, Pat Nurse has written an article on the subject of smoking and pregnancy for The Free Society.

Pat writes:

The media needs to get a grip and realise that a parent’s worth doesn’t start and end with whether they enjoy one legal product over another – a product, incidentally, enjoyed by many generations before them who had healthy happy babies ...

Anti-smokers would do well to stick to the core message that smoking CAN be harmful to unborn babies because that is a message that resonates. Going off the scale into fantasy phobia land makes ideological health campaigners look like laughing stocks that no one heeds ...

The bottom line is women own their own bodies. Neither the state nor the anti-smoker industry owns our children and this judgemental and negative approach to force them to quit a legal product will only result in the alienation of those women who need healthcare, compassion and support the most.

See: Alienating and criminalising pregnant women (The Free Society)

H/T Chas for posting a link to Pat's appearance on Five Live Breakfast this morning. Click here and go to 1.24.00.

Linda Bauld: “Smoking in the UK kills one baby every day"

You may have heard Pat Nurse on Five Live Breakfast this morning.

As a smoker who puffed her way through four (?) pregnancies, Pat was invited to discuss a new report, published today by the Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group which is led by The Lullaby Trust and the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies (UKCTCS) and supported by ASH.

It might be easier, and quicker, to reproduce parts of the press release we received yesterday. (It was embargoed until midnight.)

A coalition of baby charities, campaigners, leading academics and health experts is calling for a national Carbon Monoxide (CO) screening programme for mums-to-be to help save more babies’ lives ...

Smoking is the main cause of high levels of CO in pregnant women, but a raised CO reading can also be due to breathing in second-hand smoke, the inhalation of fumes from faulty exhausts, or poorly ventilated cooking or heating appliances.

Members of the Challenge Group, which also includes the Royal College of Midwives, Tommy’s and the Royal College of Nursing, have come together for the first time to recommend urgent action to help pregnant women identify whether they have high CO levels that may be damaging to the health of their baby.

Offering every pregnant woman in the country a simple breath test to identify her level of exposure to CO, will allow smokers to consider quitting, and non-smokers to identify whether they have had any involuntary exposure from other sources such as faulty appliances ...

The Lullaby Trust’s Chief Executive Francine Bates, said: “We know that smoking in pregnancy is a significant risk factor for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). It’s been estimated that over 100 SIDS deaths could be prevented every year if no pregnant woman smoked.

“Mothers under 20 are five times more likely to suffer the tragedy of SIDS than those over 30. They are also more likely to smoke and find it difficult to understand why smoking has such a devastating impact on their baby’s health. Immediate results from a quick and simple test, together with the support from their midwife could persuade many young women to kick their habit”

Professor Linda Bauld, from the University of Stirling and the UKCTCS, said: “Smoking in the UK kills one baby every day. That’s why this Government’s ambition is so important.

“Unfortunately, unless we take urgent additional action this target will not be met. This report is a call to action to the government, health professionals, baby charities and researchers, but most of all it’s a call to action to mothers: understand the harm, protect your baby.”

The quote that stands out is the extraordinary claim by our old friend Professor Bauld that “Smoking in the UK kills one baby every day."

For an academic, Prof Bauld certainly has a way with soundbites.

I'm less impressed by her casual attitude to detail. Note how she says, "Smoking in the UK kills one baby every day", not "Smoking during pregnancy kills one baby every day".

If the latter was true (which I don't believe it is) that would be a pretty arresting statement. Instead, like all tobacco control campaigners, Bauld wants to implicate all smokers.

The aim, conscious or otherwise, is to make all smokers feel guilty.

To download the Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group report click here – Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy: a call to action.

Here's Forest's response to the press release (not the report, which we hadn't read at that point):

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group Forest, said: "We support initiatives that educate and inform women about the risks of smoking during pregnancy, but this has the potential to be quite invasive.

"If a screening programme is voluntary there's no problem. No-one however should be forced to take a carbon monoxide test or made to feel like a leper if they decline. It's their choice and their decision must be respected."

He added: "We don't condone smoking during pregnancy and we would always advise pregnant women to listen to their GP or midwife.

"Nevertheless the suggestion that smoking during pregnancy costs one baby's life every day sounds like a headline grabbing estimate rather than an undisputed fact based on scientific evidence.

"Pregnancy is a stressful time for many women. Alarming them with emotive soundbites is not going to help."

Interestingly, and despite the gold dust nature of Linda Bauld's incendiary comment, the media has reacted rather coolly to her claim that “Smoking in the UK kills one baby every day".

Apart from Five Live, and a cursory report in the Daily Mirror, I'm struggling to find any coverage of the report in print or online.

PS. Pat has emailed to say she is also doing BBC Three Counties radio. If there is any further coverage today I'll update this post.

H/T Dick Puddlecote – The report is the subject of the Five Live phone-in.

Smoke On The Water [video]

June 18, 2013.

See also: Full house, diverse crowd, and a guest taken to hospital

Update: Forest sets the summer alight (The Commentator)

Shameless: top anti-smoking academic redefines meaning of "working"

Great piece of detective work by my colleague Angela Harbutt.

This morning Professor Simon Chapman, Australia's leading tobacco control campaigner, tweeted excitedly that plain packaging is "working".

His evidence? The lead sentence in a newspaper article about revisions to Western Australia's state alcohol laws. It read:

Corner stores want to sell liquor to make up for money lost because of plain cigarette packaging

Dig a little deeper however, as Angela did, and there was not a shred of evidence to suggest that plain packaging is "working", apart from making life more difficult for small shops in terms of staff training and the time it takes to serve customers.

Responding to Angela's enquiry, the Association of Convenience Stores wrote:

In summary, plain packaging has adversely affected retailers in terms of costs (staff training, layouts, lost productivity), time to serve customers as well as receive stock as examples, but sales over the past six months remain unaffected.

Some anti tobacco campaigners will use any quotes to their advantage without understanding their true meaning or context and I need to ensure that I am as clear as possible in my communications, but rest assured retailers have been far more inconvenienced than smokers with the change, although smokers have been frustrated with slower service and incorrect products being given to them.

So, absolutely no justification for Simon Chapman's triumphant tweet.

Either he couldn't be bothered checking the facts or he has redefined the meaning of "working".

Neither would surprise me. That's tobacco control all over.

See: Plain packaging isn't working - Tobacco sales unaffected say Aussie convenience stores (Hands Off Our Packs)

The Freedom Dinner - last chance to join over 150 guests

Last week's Smoke On The Water boat party attracted a full house with 230 guests on board The Elizabethan.

I am pleased to report that Forest's Freedom Dinner – with tickets costing £90 per head (or £800 for a table of ten) – has proved equally popular.

Next Tuesday's event at Boisdale of Canary Wharf is almost sold out with over 150 guests expected to attend.

I won't bore you with every detail – not yet anyway – but a quick reminder that as well as a whisky cocktail reception (generously sponsored by Chivas) on the smoking terrace, there will be live music as well as a "sumptuous" three-course dinner.

Speakers are Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and Lord Bell, former political advisor to Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, FW de Clerk, Boris Yeltsin and many more.

Guests include MPs, political researchers and journalists. A number of think tanks will be represented and there will be the usual friends of Forest.

We can squeeze in a few more but if you want to join us book now!

Another one bites the dust

I have written occasionally about our pet rabbits.

First there was Ringo. He was the most beautiful, sweet-natured animal with the most gorgeous grey fur. (Perfect for a hat.)

We didn't want him to be alone so when he was six months old we bought Sadie (as in 'Sexy Sadie' from The Beatles' White Album).

Ringo (mini rex) and Sadie (mini lop) were very different in looks and temperament but they were quickly inseparable.

One day they escaped into the garden next door but we knew, as soon as we found Ringo, that Sadie wouldn't be far away. And so it proved.

Sadly Ringo died of what appeared to be a brain haemorrhage when he was only two.

Never the most expressive rabbit (she looked and moved like a floor mop), Sadie became even more withdrawn and curmudgeonly.

So we bought another rabbit, a dwarf lop (George), to keep her company.

Bad move. From the moment they met George hated Sadie and Sadie hated George.

We gave them every opportunity to bond but supervised 'visiting' sessions were a disaster. Left alone they would surely have killed one another.

Undeterred we bought a fourth rabbit - Pepper (Sgt. Pepper, geddit?) - in the hope we could find a friend for an increasingly grumpy George.

Fat chance. George hated everyone, including me. Only my daughter Sophie could pick him up without being nipped, or worse.

Like Ringo, Pepper (mini lop) had a wonderfully friendly temperament. She also had a congenital eating disorder.

With the vet's help we tried everything but she faded away and died within a year.

Cantankerous Sadie, on the other hand, survived several brushes with death including a virus that resulted in the temporary paralysis of her back legs.

In the wild she would have been easy prey. We kept her alive and some movement was eventually restored although it would be an exaggeration to say she ever truly hopped again.

George too kept going even though he was equally immobile (through choice, apparently) and worryingly unhygienic.

Ringo and Sadie used to groom one other. George wouldn't even groom himself which made him an easy target for fly strike.

The first time it happened we assumed he would have to be put down, but no. The vet restored him to full health, albeit at a cost of several hundred pounds.

When it happened a second time I secretly hoped we might lay George to rest. Not a bit of it.

A few days later he was back in his hutch while I once again counted the cost of his poor personal hygiene.

To cut a very long story short, Sadie died last year, aged four, and last week George joined her in rabbit heaven. (I hope they don't fight.)

One corner of our garden now looks like a pets' cemetery with rocks, stones and even a small boulder marking the various burial sites.

According to my daughter our pets' cemetery now has four rabbits, two guinea pigs and three hamsters.

All but one were buried within a few hours of death.

Ringo however got the full treatment and it was not his body that was laid to rest but his ashes.

I wrote about it here: Farewell Ringo Clark.

Full house, diverse crowd and a guest taken to hospital

Above: Taking Liberties reader Peter Thurgood at Smoke On The Water

Woe betide anyone who arrived late for Forest's annual boat party last night.

Thirty minutes after The Elizabethan docked at Westminster Pier and with 220 guests on board, the captain turned to me said, "We can only take another ten, sir."

That wasn't strictly true. What he meant was, "You can have as many people on board as you like but we can't sail with more than 230."

Attendance at free events is notoriously difficult to estimate because not everyone who registers turns up.

Typically, 30 per cent drop out and if the weather's bad that figure can be far higher.

That's why we happily registered over 300 guests safe in the knowledge that approximately 100 would bale out.

Last night we got our estimate slightly wrong.

"Can we leave now," I asked, "before anyone else arrives?"

"We can leave whenever you want," replied the captain.

But it wasn't that simple.

The speeches were scheduled for 7.50 and one speaker, Philip Davies MP (the other was fellow MP David Nuttall), couldn't stay. He had to leave before the boat left the pier.

As did another MP, Ian Paisley.

To cut a long story short, I delegated the problem to a colleague, introduced our speakers, and as soon as the speeches were over and Philip and Ian were off the boat The Elizabethan set sail.

To the best of my knowledge everyone who wanted to be there was on the boat when it left. (Put it this way, we haven't received any complaints.)

So, a great turnout. For the benefit of Tobacco Tactics, the taxpayer-funded website that monitors these things, the following think tanks and pressure groups were all represented:

Adam Smith Institute, TaxPayers Alliance, Institute of Economic Affairs and The Freedom Association.

Libertarian bloggers were represented by Dick Puddlecote and Chris Snowdon. I also counted at least a dozen MPs' researchers but I think there were more.

All age groups (bar children) and social backgrounds were represented with students rubbing shoulders with OAPs and every decade in between.

That, I think, is what makes Forest events special.

Finally, you know it's been a good party when one of the guests is taken to hospital in an ambulance.

I think she'd had a bit too much to drink. I hope she's alright!

PS. More images here, courtesy of Dan Donovan.

Dan spent most of the evening filming. We should be able to post a short video of the event at the end of the week.